The Life and Times of William Bush
by MrsWilliamBush
Summary: William's world through his own eyes. From Midshipman to his demise. R&R please, more chapters soon!
1. Default Chapter

The Life and Times of William Bush, Written by himself.  
  
I right this down as evidence of some sort, to my existence. What is herein written, Is my story. It starts with my first voyage as a midshipman. But first I will write a bit about my family as it was then. I was born to the Bush family, of Edward William (now deceased) and Alexandrina Bush (nee Phillips) my mother was the daughter and brother of the local Blacksmiths, Edward and Richard Phillips. Her other brother was Captain Phillips in the Royal navy. My father was the First son of the late William James Bush and his second wife, Lady Maria Hatton-Bush, who outlived him. I have two sisters, Maria and Pollyanna, and at that time I had three brother's William (who died the week after my birth) Edward, and Phillip. The latter two, one was a Blacksmith, killed by a nasty fall off his horse, and Phillip who was in the army, and died in battle. I was apprenticed to the sea, because I was the sole son left to care for the womenfolk of my family, at the age of 11.  
  
My First ship was the H.M.S Resource of 28 guns, and we were off to the West Indies. 


	2. Aboard the Resource

I think it correct to include my first letter home to my mother and sisters. On the H.M.S Resource, off the West Indies, Dear Mother, Marie and Polly, Here I am, travelling across the biggest sea! The weather is as hot as can be imagined, which would be nice were it not for the diseases. Our ship is still unscathed, but the Fifth-rate Ceres has lost nearly all her men to the fever. The other midshipmen are all gentlemen-like fellows, especially one of the Kings boys, Jackson. There is one though, a man older than the others, by the name of Simpson. He is a terrible bully and drunkard. But generally leaves us alone. Other than that I hope you are all well, and I pray for your health each night. Your devoted son and Brother, William.  
  
Simpson was a man I found my later companions had come across too. He was removed by a Captain, who had perhaps a good reason to kill the scoundrel. Whatever the reason was, he justified it well. Finally, the inevitable happened and several in the midshipmen's berth succumbed to the Yellow Jack, reducing my gung-ho companions to corpses and shadows of their former selves. It was agonising to watch Jackson slowly fading in the filthy fever- wing of the Jamaican Hospital, but I was told by the Captain, before he himself died of it, That in the navy there are deaths and hangings aplenty, and to be a good boy, pray and do as I'm bade. At that time I thought he was a singularly odd fellow for telling me that but as time wore on and the ships complement slowly decreased, the new captain, Jameson, told us we were to go to England with the dispatches. On the way there, half-way through the trip, we saw action with a French frigate, which we took as a prize and during the battle we lost several of the Lieutenants, and what with the prize-crew, I found myself virtually alone in the midshipmen's berth, With the company of Jack Simpson, who was bitter enough to drink not only his spirit ration the whole way back but mine as well, which did not vex me too greatly. 


	3. Mr Midshipman Bush

After we arrived in England, we were paid off, and proudly, I took my prize money home. The pride I felt bringing home that money, even though it was but pittance. I knew I was the man of the family, though, my mother kept me in my place. She taught me to be a good God-fearing boy. I remember running down to the harbour after getting my transfer, my midshipmen's hat sliding over my face. When I got there I first met the formidable Captain Charlie Hammond, 'Black Charlie'. He was a lot taller than I then, and gave me quite an inquisition. "Mr Bush, have you served at sea before?" I knew he knew the answer to the question, so I thought I had better answer. "Yes, sir, The H.M.S Resource, 28 in the West Indies, Sir." He smiled fleetingly. "So you already know Mr Midshipman Simpson then?" Oh no! "Yes sir." "Good, go to the berth then." "Aye, aye sir." I found my way, growing more accustomed to the semi-darkness.  
  
"Hello boy! I see your back." "Yes, I am." "Sir, call me sir." "But your not." He looked dangerous. "None of your smart alecky comments, boy! You call me sir, now, Understood?" Apparently I hesitated too much. Whack! "Yes sir!" In a Trigonometry class later that day, I'd finally succeeded in remembering how to correctly find our position, and was the only one who got it right. "Boy! Come here." I could feel a storm brewing. "Yes sir?" "You were too clever by half this afternoon. You showed me and the others up. You know what that means don't you?" "No..." He raised his fist. "No Sir." "I'm going to have to make you forget." he beat me so hard I couldn't breathe. All I could think of was the pain. "Can you remember it? Because if you do, I'll have to make you forget again. Better remember that boy." "Yes sir." "Say thank-you boy. I've helped you." "Thank you sir." I ran off to skulk in the cable tiers. It went on like that. Every time I did something right I got beaten. Slowly, painstakingly so, I learnt not to show what I was really thinking, and made myself appear slow-witted. If I arrived at the right answer, I took one away from it, so as to escape the beatings. We were shipmates for three years, until he got transferred to the Justinian under Captain Keene. After that the master, found I couldn't do trigonometry well, that I had actually become slow-witted. He said to me one day, 'I hope for your sake your promotion doesn't depend on a sight.'  
  
Not long after that I was transferred to another ship, the sloop Zebra, bound again for the West Indies. My mother did not like the thought of it at all as it was by providence I had escaped unharmed before. On this ship, at first as a midshipman, one of two, the other a cheerful and clever young man named Adams. Although I felt better and more confident, I found I wouldn't ever be able to calculate without difficulty, and through Adams, the master's and the first Lieutenants most attentive direction, I first learned the tortures of Whist. I knew I was a player of little consequence, that without me they wouldn't be able to play, and that I was such a bad player that they must have had the patience of saints. Then both the master and the second lieutenant, (Who couldn't abide card games and generally kept to himself) came down with yellow jack. This meant, with Number one being pomoted to Master, there were two positions vacant and they needed to be filled by us. I, through no action, no feat of heroics, had become acting lieutenant William Bush. On the station were a few Captains and they agreed to hold an examination. To my utter chagrin, I failed due to a miscalculation, and was told to come back in three months. On this momentous occasion, they asked me to recite the order of the knots and whatnot of the log which I did without a hitch as I had been teaching two of the lower deck boys just how not a day before. I was now Lieutenant Bush had no seniority, but an increase in pay. How joyous was my Mother and Sisters then! 


End file.
